Tag Archives: novels

The Weekly Urchin Recap

By Geo Ong This Urchin’s going on assignment, y’all. I leave tomorrow, and for ten days I will live in and explore the mystical city of Los Angeles. Yes, that one. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, I did … Continue reading

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The Jazz Page

By Geo Ong What you once thought was order was closer to chaos; what you later came to see as chaos was closer to order. It’s all the same, the look of it depending on where you stand and who … Continue reading

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The Spring Urchin Bookshelf

Spring is here, folks! And you know what that means, don’t you? New books to embrace while you frolic in the foliage! Here’s what’s on our sunny, colourful horizon. Geo’s books Safe As Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino This debut short … Continue reading

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I Came with Anna Karenina and I Left with Lolita

By Geo Ong Bear with me please while I allow myself to revisit, in an attempt at sincere reconciliation, one of the worst and most regrettable decisions of my life. For those who believe that there is one right person … Continue reading

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The Weekly Urchin Recap

By Geo Ong This weekend marks yet another annual anniversary of one of my favourite books, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, which was first published in 1851. Three independent bookstores in the Brooklyn/Manhattan area are hosting marathon readings of the behemoth book, … Continue reading

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The Urchin Bookshelf – Fall 2012

Let the leaves fall and the pages turn! Sarah’s books Fun Home by Alison Bechdel After months of reading Geo’s continuously high praise for cartoonist and graphic novelist Alison Bechdel (see here, here, and here), I decided it was time, … Continue reading

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The Seasonal Urchin Bookshelf Revampathon!

It’s that time again, kids! Here are the books on our horizons. Margaret’s books A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway It’s a tad embarrassing that I’m just now getting around to reading this. A Moveable Feast is Hemingway’s posthumous classic … Continue reading

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That’s What He Said

Three times Jan had been called to the colours [military service], but each time had been deferred because of his deplorable physical condition, a circumstance which threw ample light on Jan Bronski’s constitution in those days, when every male who … Continue reading

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You May Know Him As the Guy Whose Book Was Made Into the Movie ‘True Grit’

By Geo Ong Or you may not know him at all. His name is Charles Portis, and he’s an American novelist. Before True Grit was a Coen Brothers movie, it was a 1969 movie directed by a fella called Henry … Continue reading

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Mr. Marineau, I Regret to Inform You That You Didn’t Ruin My Life, or: If I Taught High School English

By Geo Ong I used to hate reading. In high school, I had a string of English teachers that did quite a job of having their students hate reading forever. My 10th grade Language Arts teacher Mr. Marineau was the … Continue reading

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